River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-10-06

he did not believe Mrs. Mordaunt. and
procuring program he held it before
her,
IF my wife was going to play in the
farce" why isn't her name printed
here?" he asked in loud harsh tones.
..What is Capt vernon's address,"
His voice penetrated to the audience.
Cries of "Hushr' and Turn him
oGti'' began to make themselves heard.
The whole strength of the amateur
company vainly endeavored to calm or
to eject him. and shortly after 10 O'Clock
Tom bearings cab drew up before
Capt. VernOn's chambers in Pail Mall
They were snug bachelors rooms,
hung with racing pictures and pretty
women's portraits, with whips and
foils. The remains of a dainty supper
lay on a the table, and the waiter had
just carried in fresh supply of cham
payne. In a deep armchair by the
fire sat Marion bearing. and on the
arm Of it Capt. Vernon leant, as. car
essing ner hair with one hand, with the
other he offered her a glass of wine
Take some more champagne, dar-
ling, he was saying; 1t will cheer you
up"
The words were scarcely out of his
lips when the glass he had held was
flung against his face and he himself
hurled to the ground and flogged
mercilessly with one of his own hunt
ing whips. snatched from its place on
the wall. Capt. Vernon was tall. but
not Muscular. The attack was uneX-
pected and his opponent mad with
fury. The noise of the struggle and
Marion's wild shrfeks brought some
half-dozen people on the scene, but not
before Tom had flung the Captain. with
all his force, face downward into the
CRATE, and, then, overturning the
supper-table and extinguishing the
light, escaped in the confusion and
darkness, rhrusting aside the wretched
woman who would have chung round
his feet.
Then he jumped into a cab and drove
back to that home which was new,
more TO be gladdensd by the presence
of wife.
There was no divorce. no action for
assault. although each member of
the Macreadys and every one of Capt.
Vernon's personal friends searched the
papers daily with the kindest solieitude,
and experienced good deal of disap
pointment not untinged with indignation
at finding no news of the bearing scan
dial.
Capt. Vernon went abroad after de-
clining to see Mrs. bearing and return
ing her letters unopened When he
came back in two years time his friends,
male and female, were delight to see
him, and the latter voted him ..mOre
iTreSistibly wicked than ever" He has
a deep scar ON his cheek which he ac-
counts for rs being the result of duel
with a Viennese student, and scarcely
any one knows a champagne glass had
more to do with it.
Mrs. Carington and the rest. mean
while, indicated their occasional high
sense of morality by dropping Mrs.
bearing. 1t was decided that she
threw herself at Capt. Vernon; Mrs.
Mordaunt opined that "a woman ought
to be able to take care of herself"
proposition with which the other ladies
entirely concurred. In such society
periodical fits of pharisaical virtue clear
the moral atmosphere, and Mrs. Dear
ing was chosen as the especial social
scapegOat on whose pretty head were
heaped the sins and follies of the COM
munitv.
So, deserted by the women to whose
influence she owed her misfortunes,
shut out by the man she had deceived,
and scorned by the man she had loved,
Marion bearing lived for time in
dreary remorseful Obscurity on a small
allowance paid her monthly by her
husbands solicitor. Then she obtained
employment in an orderly West End
theatre, but found the professional
stage, under these auspices, so utterly
lacking in the excitement and luxury to
which her amateur experiences had ac-
customed her, that she soon tired of it
and driited into the choruses of various
other theatres devoted to burlesque and
comic opera.
Naturally sweet, affectionate. and
silly, she is popular but i'll at ease
among the class now surrounding her.
IAcI Oilt utSiIt - 10 AOI1tbs ubE Oilc
dread solitude, with its companion,
thought. Every moment of her life she
tries to fill with fresh excitement, fresh
designations, and the end is not to be
thought Of. not to be spoken of, here.
Meanwhile a plain. hard-featured
man with prematurely white hair
spends his evenings alone in the little
house at Chelsea, except on those rare
occasions when few friends come in
to smoke pipe with him. Then such
as know him well warn the rest that
unless they wish their stolid host sud-
denly to change into dangerous mad
man they must avoid all reference to
women. to the stage, but, more than
all, to amateur theatricals.
A dreary state Of things and an odd
story. the strarge.t part whereof is
that it is alb solutely true.-LoRdOn
World.